Curated OER
Exponential Decay
Students study exponential decay and its application to radiocarbon dating. In this exponential decay lesson, students use candy to model the time it takes for something to decay. Students also graph the data they collect and...
Kenan Fellows
Half-Life
Scholars shake their way to understanding half-life with the help of candy. They observe and record which side candy lands on to graph the exponential decay in the fifth instructional activity of seven integrating chemistry and algebra....
Illustrative Mathematics
Carbon 14 Dating in Practice I
How old is the plant? Here is a task that presents the exponential decay function for carbon 14 in a plant. Pupils use the function to estimate the amount of carbon 14 in the plant when it died and analyze the function to find what...
Curated OER
Murder in the First Degree - The Death of Mr. Spud
Secondary learners investigate exponential functions in a real-world scenario. They collect data on the temperature of a cooling baked potato, enter the data into lists, and graph the data using a scatter plot before finding an...
National Museum of Nuclear Science & History
Nuclear Popcorn
Make your lesson on radioactive decay pop with this lab exercise. Using popcorn kernels spread over a tabletop, participants pick up all of those that point toward the back of the room, that is, those that represent decayed atoms. As the...
Discovery Education
Submarines and Aircraft Carriers: The Science of Nuclear Power
As physics masters view this presentation, they learn how nuclear power is used in submarines. They use Google Maps to plot a course through the ocean and calculate the time required for surfacing and traveling. They learn about fission,...
Curated OER
Rhinos and M&M's
High schoolers analyze patterns of exponential models by collecting data in paper folding and M&M investigations. They use graphing calculators to create scatter plots that lead to equations for the exponential models. They then...
Curated OER
Introduction to Graphical Representation of Data Sets in Connection with Nuclear Decay
Students record data, make observations, and share in experimentation and discussion of numerical experiments.
Virginia Department of Education
Determining Absolute Age
How can radioactive decay help date old objects? Learners explore half-life and radioactive decay by conducting an experiment using pennies to represent atoms. Young scientists graph data from the experiment to identify radioactive decay...
Teach Engineering
Common and Natural Logarithms and Solving Equations
Log some practice with logarithms. A PowerPoint presentation provides a tutorial on the change of base formula involving natural logarithms and solving exponential equations with logarithms in the fourth installment of a seven-part...
Beyond Benign
The Big Melt: Arctic Ice Caps
Are the Arctic ice caps really melting out of existence? Junior climatologists examine the statistics of ice decline through four math-based lessons. Each activity incorporates data, climate information, and environmental impact into an...
Curated OER
Bacterial growth
Students explore the exponential growth and decay of microbial populations in relation to the organism tolerance ranges in their environment, They observe the impact of changing variables which can affect microbial populations.
Curated OER
Food Safety Lab
Students use the scientific method to investigate the role of temperature in microbial growth. In this food preservation lesson, students set up an experiment with fruit in room temperature and in a refrigerator. They record the...
Curated OER
Get a Half-life!
Pupils explore decay functions and the half-life of a substance. Through an M&M activity with calculators, students collect and graph data. They determine the linear, quadratic and exponential functions of the graph. Pupils...
CK-12 Foundation
Radiocarbon Dating
How do we know how long ago a dinosaur lived or an ancient fire pit was used? Scholars learn about the application of carbon dating and half lives to discover things about the past. They adjust the amount of radioactive carbon in the...
Curated OER
Introduction to Graphical Representation of Data Sets in Connection to Cellular Growth
Students practice graphing relationships between variables by studying topics such as exponential growth and decay. They conduct a series of numerical experiments using a computer model and a variety of physical experiments using mold,...
Curated OER
Nuclear Chemistry Project
Radiation has numerous real-world applications, some of which are relatively safe while others can be extremely hazardous. In this nuclear chemistry project, young scientists choose a practical use of nuclear reactions to...
Curated OER
Black Hole...Fade-out!
In this black hole worksheet, students read about how images fade to black when they reach an event horizon of a black hole. Students solve 3 problems about black holes using a given equation for luminosity. They find the time it takes...
Curated OER
Food Safety Lab
Young scholars determine the optimal living conditions for yeast and apply these results to microbes in food. In this microbiology lab lesson, students observe the reaction of yeast to elevated temperatures. They relate these results to...
Curated OER
The Nucleus / Nuclear Reactions and Elementary Particles
Students describe how radioactivity relates to alpha and beta particles. Using their properties, they write a descriptive paper about the gamma rays and alpha and beta particles. They calculate q-values and the half-life of a given...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Teaching Radioactive Decay & Radiometric Dating
A laboratory activity that teaches the difficult concept of radioactive decay by means of a fluid (shampoo) flowing through holes from an upper to a lower beaker. Using the exponential decay equation, students then 'date' the shampoo....
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
Nctm: Illuminations: Drug Filtering
This lesson from Illuminations looks at exponential decay using the example of how kidneys filter blood.
Physics Aviary
Physics Aviary: Quick Graph 3.0
This program was designed as a quick graphing program that students could use on a computer, tablet or smart phone when a more complex graphing program is not available. This program will let students plot up to 10 data points and then...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Radioactivity: Expect the Unexpected
Video explaining the process, risks, and benefits of radioactivity. [4:16] Followed by a short quiz and a list of additional resources to explore.
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